Warning The Enemy Kills Our Soldiers

Is the Israeli army moral or suicidal? For several years, our political and military leaders have been proudly reciting the national mantra - about the extensive warnings that we give before we attack an enemy. This proclamation is repeated over and over to the world media during our many wars, all to counter the unfair charge that we are excessively harming civilians.

It is now being reported that thirteen Israeli soldiers are dead in the terrorist stronghold of Shejaiya in Gaza, after advance warning was given by the IDF to leave the area because the IDF would be attacking soon. Hamas was well prepared, apparently using the advance notification to plant explosives and to prepare ambushes well ahead of time, thereby putting our soldiers at a disadvantage.

Nobody wants to say the truth, because we know that our political leadership is under heavy pressure from Obama, Kerry, the EU, and the UN, who claim to be concerned about civilian casualties. None of us want to be seen as undermining our prime minister with criticism that will make it difficult for him, but it needs to be said and stated clearly:

The warnings given in advance of attacks- the leaflets dropped from the sky, the text messages, and so on are putting our soldiers in danger. Not only the Gaza Arab civilians get the warning messages, but also the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, and especially their leadership that has been planning for years for this scenario. They exploit our political defensiveness to defeat us militarily by eliminating our deterrence. It's a sophisticated, yet simple game of psychological warfare and they are winning.

Every general in the free world knows that you cannot win a war - even a very justified war like this one - by essentially giving the enemy 48 hours advance warning to evacuate a bomb factory or to plant booby traps with which to ambush our soldiers. Israel should ignore the private lectures of self-righteous, yet disingenuous politicians like John Kerry, recently caught off camera blasting Israel for harming civilians, yet publicly spouting empty words referring to our right of self-defense.

The IDF is not an organization of public relations apologists and should only be in the business of winning wars by defeating the enemy - speedily, decisively, and completely. For our political leadership to continue this risky political game of national suicide through pathetic apologetics is a danger to our soldiers and to their ability to win.